MARY'S WEDDING 

A PLAY IN ONE ACT 



FOUR PLAYS BY GILBERT CANNAN 

JAMES AND JOHN ... - one act. 
MILES DIXON - - - . . two acts. 
MARY'S WEDDING - . - - one act. 
A SHORT WAY WITH AUTHORS, one act. 



MARY'S WEDDING 



A PLAY IN ONE ACT 



BY 

GILBERT CANNAN 



Boston 
LE ROY PHILLIPS 

Publisher 






All rights reserved 

Entered in the Library of Congress on July 25, 1913 

Copyright, 1920 

Le Roy Phillips 

^ CI A 564898 '"^AR -4 fCj'^^-j 



^ 



Produced at the Coronet Theatre, 
May, 1912 

CHARACTERS 

Mary - - - - Miss Irene Rooke. 

Tom - - - - Mr.' Herbert Lomas. 

Ann - - - - Miss Mary Goulden. 

Mrs. Airey - - - Miss Muriel Pratt. 

Bill Airey - - - Mf.'Charles Bibby. 
Two Maids. 
Villagers and Others. 



CHARACTERS 

Mary. 

Tom. 

Ann. 

Mrs. Airey. 

Bill Airey. 

Two Maids. 

Villagers and Others. 



Scene: The Davis's Cottage. 

Note. There is no attempt made in the play 
to reproduce exactly the Westmorland dialect, 
which would be unintelligible to ears coming new 
to it, but only to catch the rough music of it and the 
slow inflection of northern voices. 



MARY'S WEDDING 

The scene is the living-room in the Davis^s cottage 
in the hill country. An old room low in the 
ceiling, ann davis is at the table in the 
centre of the room untying a parcel. The 
door opens to admit tom davis, a sturdy 
quarryman dressed in his best and wearing a 
large nosegay. 

ANN 

Well, 'ast seed un? 

TOM 

Ay, a seed un. 'Im and 'is ugly face 

ANN 

[Untying her -parcel] 'Tis 'er dress come just in 
time an' no more from the maker-up 

TOM 

Ef she wouldna do it. . . . 

ANN 

But 'tis such long years she's been a waitin'. 
. . . 'Tis long years since she bought t' 
dress. 

TOM 

An' 'tis long years she'll be a livin' wi' what she's 
been waitin' for; 'tis long years she'll live 
to thi^k ower it and watch the thing she's 



8 MARY'S WEDDING 

taken for her man, an' long years that she'll 
find 'un feedin' on 'er, an' a dreary round 
she'll 'ave of et. . . . 

ANN 

Three times she 'ave come to a month of weddin', 
an' three times 'e 'ave broke loose and gone 
down to the Mortal Man an' the woman 
that keeps 'arf our men in drink. . . . 'Tis 
she is the wicked one, giving 'em score an' 
score again 'till they owe more than they can 
ever pay with a year's money. 

TOM 

'Tis a fearful thing is drink. . . . 

ANN 

So I telled 'er in the beginnin' of it all, knowin' 
what like of man 'e was. An' so I telled 'er 
last night only. 

TOM 

She be set on it.'' 

ANN 

Ay, an' 'ere's t' pretty dress for 'er to be wedded 
in. . . . 

TOM 

What did she say.? 

ANN 

Twice she 'ave broke wi' 'im, and twice she 'ave 
said that ef 'e never touched the drink fur 
six months she would go to be churched wi' 
'im. She never 'ave looked at another man. 



MARY'S WEDDING 



Ay, she be one o' they quiet ones that goes about 
their work an' never 'as no romantical 
notions but love only the more for et. 
There've been men come for 'er that are 
twice the man that Bill is, but she never 
looks up from 'er work at 'em. 

ANN 

I think she must 'a' growed up lovin' Bill. 'Tis 
a set thing surely. 

TOM 

An' when that woman 'ad 'im again an' 'ad 'im 
roaring drunk fur a week, she never said 
owt but turned to 'er work agin an' set 
aside the things she was makin' agin the 
weddin'. . . . 

ANN 

What did 'e say to 'er? 

TOM 

Nowt. 'E be 'most as chary o' words as she. 
'E've got the 'ouse an' everything snug, and 
while 'e works 'e makes good money. 

ANN 

'Twill not end, surely. 

TOM 

There was 'is father and two brothers all broken 
men by it. 

[She hears mary on the stairs, and they are 
silent. 



10 MARY'S WEDDING 

ANN 

*Ere's yer pretty dress, Mary. 

MARY 

Ay. . . . Thankye, Tom. 

TOM 

'Twill be lovely for ye, my dear, an' grand. 
'Tis a fine day fur yer weddin', my dear. . . . 

MARY 

I'll be sorry to go, Tom. 

TOM 

An' sorry we'll be to lose ye. . . . 

MARY 

I'll put the dress on. 

[She throws the frock over her arm and goes 
out with it. 

ANN 

Another girl would 'a' wedded him years ago in 
the first foolishness of it. But Mary, for 
all she says so little, 'as long, long thoughts 
that never comes to the likes o' you and me. 
. . . Another girl, when the day 'ad come 
at last, would 'a' been wild wi' the joy an' 
the fear o' it. . . . But Mary, she's sat on 
the fells under the stars, an' windin' among 
the sheep. D' ye mind the nights she's 
been out like an old shepherd wi' t' sheep? 
D' ye mind the nights when she was but a 
lile 'un an' we found 'er out in the dawn 
sleepin' snug again the side o' a fat ewe.? 



MARY'S WEDDING ii 

TOM 

'Tis not like a weddin' day for 'er. ... If she'd 
'ad a new dress, now 

ANN 

I said to 'er would she like a new dress; but she 
would have only the old 'un, cut an' shaped 
to be in the fashion. . . . Et 'as been a 
strange coortin', an' 'twill be a strange life 
for 'em both, I'm thinkin', for there seems 
no gladness in 'er, nor never was, for she 
never was fooHsh an' she never was young; 
but she was always like there was a great 
weight on 'er, so as she must be about the 
world alone, but always she 'ave turned to 
the little things an' the weak, an' always she 
'ad some poor sick beast for tendin' or 
another woman's babe to 'old to 'er breast, 
an' I think sometimes that 'tis only because 
Bill is a poor sick beast wi' a poor sick soul 
that she be so set on 'im. 

TOM 

'E be a sodden beast wi' never a soul to be saved 
or damned 

ANN 

'Cept for the drink, 'e've been a good son to 'is 
old mother when the others 'ud 'a' left 'er 
to rot i' the ditch, an' 'e was the on'y one 
as 'ud raise a finger again his father when the 
owd man, God rest him, was on to 'er like 
a madman. Drunk or sober 'e always was 
on 'is mother's side. 



12 MARY'S WEDDING 

TOM 

'Twas a fearfoul 'ouse that. 

ANN 

'Twas wonderful that for all they did to 'er, that 
wild old man wi' 'is wild young sons, she 
outlived 'em all, but never a one could she 
save from the curse that was on them, 
an' sober, they was the likeliest men i' 
Troutbeck. . . . 

TOM 

'Tis when the rain comes and t' clouds come low 
an' black on the fells and the cold damp 
eats into a man's bones that the fearful 
thoughts come to 'im that must be drowned 
or 'im go mad — an' only the foreigners like 
me or them as 'as foreign blood new in 'em 
can 'old out again it; 'tis the curse o' livin' 
too long between two line o' 'ills. 

ANN 

An' what that owd woman could never do, d'ye 
think our Mary'U do hf 'Im a Troutbeck 
man an' she a Troutbeck girl.^ 

TOM 

She've 'eld to 'er bargain an' brought 'im to it. 

ANN 

There's things that a maid can do that a wife 
cannot, an' that's truth, an' shame it is to 
the men. [Comes a knock at the door.] 'Tisn't 
time for t' weddin' folk. 

[tom goes to the window. 



MARY'S WEDDING 13 

TOM 

Gorm. 'Tis Mrs. Airey. 

ANN 

T'owd woman. She that 'as not been further 
than 'er garden-gate these ten years.'' 

[She goes to the door, opens it to admit mrs. 
AIREY, an old gaunt woman just begin- 
ning to be bent with age. 

MRS. AIREY 

Good day to you, Tom Davis. 

TOM 

Good day to you, Mrs. Airey. 

MRS. AIREY 

Good day to you, Ann Davis. 

ANN 

Good day to you, Mrs. Airey. Will ye sit down.? 

[She dusts a chair and MRS. airey sits by 

the fireside. She sits silent for long while. 

TOM and ANN look uneasily at her and at 

each other. 

MRS. airey 
So 'tis all ready for Bill's wedding. 

TOM 

Ay. 'Tis a fine day, an' the folks bid, and the 
sharry-bang got for to drive to Coniston, 
all the party of us. Will ye be coming, Mrs. 
Airey.'* 



14 MARY'S WEDDING 

MRS. AIREY 

I'll not. [mrs. AIREY sits silent again for long.] 
Is Mary in the 'ouse.^ 

ANN 

She be upstairs, puttin' on 'er weddin' dress. 

MRS. AIREY 

'Tis the sad day of 'er life. . . . They're a 
rotten lot, an' who should know et better 
than me.? Bill's the best of 'em, but Bill's 
rotten. . . . Six months is not enough, 
nor six years nor sixty, not while 'er stays in 
Troutbeck rememberin' all that 'as been an' 
all the trouble that was in the 'ouse along 
o' it, and so I've come for to say it. 

ANN 

She growed up lovin' Bill, and 'tis a set thing. 
She've waited long years. 'Tis done now, 
an' what they make for theirselves they 
make, an' 'tis not for us to go speirin' for the 
trouble they may make for theirselves, but 
only to pray that it may pass them by. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

But 'tis certain. . . . Six months is not enough, 
nor six years nor sixty 

ANN 

And are ye come for to tell Mary this . . . ? 

MRS. AIREY 

This and much more. . . . 



MARY'S WEDDING 15 

TOM 

And what 'ave ye said to Bill? 

MRS. AIREY 

Nowt. There never was a son would give 'eed 
to 'is mother. . . . 'Tisn't for 'im I'm 
thinkin', but for t' children that she'll bear 
'im. I 'oped, and went on 'opin' till there 
was no 'ope left in me, and I lived to curse 
the day that each one of my sons was born. 
John and Peter are dead an' left no child 
behind, and it were better for Bill also to 
leave no child behind. There's a day and 
'alf a day o' peace and content for a woman 
with such a man, and there's long, long 
years of thinkin' on the peace and content 
that's gone. There's long, long years of 
watching the child that you've borne and 
suckled turn rotten, an' I say that t' birth- 
pangs are nowt to t' pangs that ye 'ave 
from the childer of such a man as Bill or 
Bill's father. . . . She's a strong girl, an' 
a good girl; but there's this that is stronger 
than 'er. 

[mary comes again, very pretty in her blue 
dress. She is at once sensible of the 
strangeness in tom and ann. She 
stands looking from one to the other. 
MRS. AIREY sits gazing into the fire. 

MARY 

Why, mother, . . . 'tis kind of you to come on 
this morning. 



i6 MARY'S WEDDING 

MRS. AIREY 

Ay, 'tis kind of me. [ann steals away upstairs 
and TOM, taking the lead from her, goes out 
into the road.] Come 'ere, my pretty. 

[mary goes and stands by her. 

MARY 

The sun is shining and the bees all ou and busy 
to gather in the 'oney. 

MRS. AIREY 

'Tis the bees as is t' wise people to work away 
in t' dark when t' sun is hidden, and to work 
away in t' sun when 'tis bright and light. 
'Tis the bees as is t' wise people that takes 
their men an' kills 'em for the 'arm that 
they may do, and it's us that's the foolish 
ones to make soft the way of our men an' let 
them strut before us and lie; and 'tis us 
that's the foolish ones ever to give a thought 
to their needs that give never a one to ours. 

MARY 

'Tis us that's t' glorious ones to 'elp them that 
is so weak, and 'tis us that's the brave and 
the kind ones to let them 'ave the 'ole world 
to play with when they will give never a 
thought to us that gives it t' 'em. 

MRS. AIREY 

My pretty, my pretty, there's never a one of us 
can 'elp a man that thinks 'isself a man an' 
strong, poor fool, an' there's never a one 



MARY'S WEDDING 17 

of us can 'elp a man that's got a curse on 'im 
and is rotten through to t' bone, an' not 
one day can you be a 'elp to such a man as 
this. . . . 

MARY 

There's not one day that I will not try, and 
not one day that I will not fight to win 'im 
back. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

The life of a woman is a sorrowful thing. . . . 

MARY 

For all its sorrow, 'tis a greater thing than t' 
life of a man . . . an' so I'll live it. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

Now you're strong and you're young. — 'Ope's 
with ye still and life all before ye — and 
so I thought when my day came, and so I 
did. There was a day and 'alf a day of 
peace and content, and there was long, long 
years of thinking on the peace and content 
that are gone. . . . Four men all gone the 
same road, and me left looking down the 
way that they are gone and seeing it all 
black as the pit. ... I be a poor old 
woman now, with never a creature to come 
near me in kindness, an' I was such a poor 
old woman before ever the 'alf of life was 
gone, an' so you'll be if you take my son 
for your man. He's the best of my sons. 



i8 MARY'S WEDDING 

but I curse the day that ever he was 
born. . . . 

MARY 

There never was a man the Hke of Bill. If ye 
see 'un striding the 'ill, ye know 'tis a man 
by 'is strong, long stride; and if ye see 'un 
leapin' an' screein' down th' 'ill, ye know 
'tis a man; and if ye see 'un in t' quarry, 
ye know 'tis a strong man. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

An' if ye see 'un lyin' drunk i' the ditch, not 
roarin' drunk, but rotten drunk, wi' 'is face 
fouled an' 'is clothes mucked, ye know 'tis 
the lowest creature of the world. . . . 
[mary stands staring straight in front of her. 

MARY 

Is it for this that ye come to me to-day.'* 

MRS. AIREY 

Ay, for this: that ye may send 'un back to 'is 
rottenness, for back to it 'e'll surely go 
when 'tis too late, an' you a poor old woman 
like me, with never a creature to come near 
ye in kindness, before ever the bloom 'as 
gone from your bonny cheeks, an' maybe 
childer that'll grow up bonny an' then be 
blighted for all the tenderness ye give to 
them; an' those days will be the worst of 
all — far worse than the day when ye turn 



MARY'S WEDDING 19 

for good an' all into yourself from t' man 
that will give ye nowt. . . . 'Tis truly 
the bees as is the wise people. . . . 

MARY 

It's a weary waitin' that I've had, and better the 
day and 'alf a day of peace and content 
with all the long years of thinking on it 
than all the long, long years of my life to go 
on waitin' and waitin' for what has passed 
me by, for if he be the rottenest, meanest 
man in t' world that ever was made, there is 
no other that I can see or ever will. It is no 
wild foolishness that I am doing: I never 
was like that; but it's a thing that's growed 
wi' me an' is a part o' me — an' though 
every day o' my life were set before me now 
so I could see to the very end, an' every day 
sadder and blacker than the last, I'd not 
turn back. I gave 'im the bargain, years 
back now, and three times 'e 'as failed me; 
but 'e sets store by me enough to do this 
for me a fourth time — 'Twas kind of ye to 
come. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

You're strong an' you're young, but there's this 
that's stronger than yourself 

MARY 

Maybe, but 'twill not be for want o' .fightin' 
wi t. 



20 MARY'S WEDDING 

MRS. AIREY 

'Twill Steal on ye when you're weakest, an' come 
on ye in your greatest need. . . . 

MARY 

It 'as come to this day an' there is no goin' back. 
D' ye think I've not seed t' soft, gentle things 
that are given to other women, an' not 
envied them.^ D' ye think I've not seed 'em 
walkin' shut-eyed into all sorts o' foolish- 
ness an' never askin' for the trewth o' it, 
an' not envied 'em for doin' that.^ D' ye 
think I've not seed the girls I growed wi' 
matin' lightly an' lightly weddin', an' not 
envied 'em for that, they wi' a 'ouse an' 
babes an' me drudgin' away on t' farm, me 
wi' my man to 'and an' only this agin 'im.'' 
D' ye think I've not been tore in two wi' 
wantin' to close my eyes an' walk like others 
into it an' never think what is to come? 
There's many an' many a night that I've sat 
there under t' stars wi' t' three counties afore 
me an' t' sea, an' t' lake below, an' t' sheep 
croppin', an' my own thoughts for all the 
comp'ny that I 'ad, an' iightin' this way an' 
that for to take 'un an' let 'un be so rotten ac 
ever 'e might be; an' there's many an' many 
a night when the thoughts come so fast that 
they hurt me an' I lay pressed close to t' 
ground wi' me 'ands clawin' at it an' me 
teeth bitin' into t' ground for to get closer 
an' 'ide from myself; an' many a night 



MARY'S WEDDING 21 

when I sat there seein' the man as t' brave 
lad 'e was when I seed 'un first leapin' down 
the 'ill, an' knowin' that nothin' in the 
world, nothin' that I could do to 'un or that 
'e could do 'isself, would ever take that fro' 
me. ... In all the time o' my weary 
waitin' there 'as never been a soul that 
I told so much to, an' God knows there 
never 'as been an' never will be a time when 
I can tell as much to 'im. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

My pretty, my pretty, 'tis a waste an' a wicked, 
wicked waste. . . . 

MARY 

'Tis a day an' 'alf a day agin never a moment. . . . 

MRS. AIREY 

'Tis that, and so 'tis wi' all o' us . . . an' so 
'twill be. . . . God bless ye, my dear. . . . 
[ann comes down, mary is looking out of 
the window. 

ANN 

Ye forgot the ribbon for yer 'air, that I fetched 
'specially fro' t' town. 

MARY 

Why, yes. Will ye tie it, Ann.f* 

[ann ties the ribbon in her hair. 

MRS. AIREY 

Pretty, my dear, oh! pretty 



22 MARY'S WEDDING 

MARY 

I'm to walk to t' church o' Tom's arm . . . ? 

ANN 

An' I to Tom's left; wi' the bridesmaids be'ind, 
an' the rest a followin'. . . . 

[tom returns, followed by two girls bringing 

armfuls of flowers. With these they deck 
the room, and keep the choicest blooms for 
MARY. ANN and the three girls are 
busied with making mary reach her most 
beautiful, mrs. airey goes. At inter- 
vals one VILLAGER and another comes 
to give greeting or to bring some small 
offering of food or some small article of 
clothing. MARY thanks them all with 
rare natural grace. They call her fine, 
and ejaculate remarks of admiration: 
" The purty bride. ..." "She's 
beautiful. ..." " Tu a lucky lad, 
Bill Airey. ..." The church bell 
begins to ring. . . . All is prepared 
and all are ready. . . . mary is given 
her gloves, which she draws on — when 
the door is thrown open and bill airey 
lunges against the lintel of the door and 
stands leering. He is just sober enough 
to know what he is at. He is near tears, 
poor wretch. He is not horribly drunk. 
He stands surveying the group and they 
him. 



MARY'S WEDDING 23 

BILL 

I come — I come — I — I c-come for to — to — 
to — show — to show myself . . . 

[he turns in utter misery and goes. MARY 
plucks the flowers from her bosom and 
lets them fall to the ground; draws her 
gloves off her hands and lets them fall. 
The hell continues to ring. 



CURTAIN 



24 REPERTORY PLAYS 

Down, Oliphant 

Maker of Dreams, The 
Also in large paper edition, with incidental music 
by Beatrice Patterson. Cloth, $i.oo. 

Egerton, Lady Alex. 

Masque of the Two Strangers, The 

Everyman 

A morality play 

Ferguson, J. A. 

Campbell of Kihlmor 

Gwen, John 

Luck of War 
The Shepherd 

KoNi, Torahiko 

Kanawa: The Incantation 

Maeterlinck, Maurice 
Alladine and Palomides 
Death of Tintagiles, The 
Interior 
Intruder, The 

Maxwell, W. B. 

The Last Man In 

Palmer, John 
Over the Hills 

Price, Graham 

Absolution of Bruce, The 

Capture of Wallace, The 

Coming of Fair Anne, The 

Marriages are Made in Heaven and Elsewhere 

Perfect Housekeeper, The 

Song of the Seal, The 

Published by LE ROY PHILLIPS, Boston 



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